Many ways have been used by individuals to drink a liquid, such as a beverage. For example, one may raise a glass containing the beverage to one's mouth or alternatively, use a straw like device inserted in the beverage to draw the beverage upwardly from the glass. Each of these drinking means may be less than desirable when a group of people is sitting around a table enjoying the beverage along with conversation.
When the beverage is served in a pitcher, the beverage must subsequently be poured into individual glasses for each person drinking. This pouring increases the likelihood of spills, as well as causing a carbonated beverage to loose its carbonation. Additionally, each drinker must continually raise his or her glass in order to consume the beverage.
One way to lessen the above problems is for each person to drink out of a single pitcher using individual straws. Hereagain, many problems will arise. Straws which are too short may become completely submerged in the liquid, while a straw of any length is generally forced up out of the liquid with a carbonated beverage. More importantly, there is a sanitation problem when several persons use straws to drink out of a single pitcher.
The present invention is intended to overcome these and other problems with prior art drinking devices.